With the growing popularity of solar panel installation and the high values of photovoltaic modules, cells, or arrays or the solar thermal collectors, there has been an up-rising tread of solar panel theft around the globe. Developed countries such as Germany, Spain, United States, and Australia have all reported missing panels. The recent break-through in the manufacturing sod technology of the solar panel systems, global awareness of the severity of the global warming effects, and government subsidies in the installation of photovoltaic modules or panels as an initiative to slow down the global warming effect certainly exacerbate the problem. Some governments have even abandoned certain solar-power programs due to the vulnerability of the solar energy systems to theft or looting.
To counteract this prevailing looting or theft of these photovoltaic modules/panels/arrays or solar thermal collectors, some owners of these modules, panels, or collectors use fences, complicated locking mechanisms, color coding, or video surveillance and/or monitoring systems. The above security measures offer limited protection of the assets while some protective measures even require complicated installation and are therefore prohibitively expensive. Moreover, the above security measures are generally ineffective and are relatively easy to defeat or bypass. Once these existing security measures are defeated or bypassed, the photovoltaic modules/panels or solar thermal collectors may be removed en masse while the rightful owners are often left with no recourse.
Once these security measures are defeated and these photovoltaic modules/panels or solar thermal collectors are illegally removed, these modules/panels and collectors can be easily resold over the Internet or through some other sales channels at a fraction of the original price. The new owner of these misappropriated photovoltaic modules/panels or solar thermal collectors are generally able to re-install or reuse these modules/panels or collectors with little or no difficulty while paying only a fraction of the original price. Such a low acquisition cost and almost no barrier for the reuse of the misappropriated photovoltaic modules/panels or solar thermal collectors greatly exacerbate this up-rising theft of these module/panels or collectors.
On the other hand, it may be extremely difficult for the rightful owners or their respective insurance companies to, even with the aid of law enforcement, track, identify, and, then recover these stolen photovoltaic modules/panels or solar thermal collectors.
Therefore, there exists a need for an effective method and apparatus for implementing the enhanced signature checking security measures for solar energy systems.